Rotatable closure assembly with rim



Sept 16, 1969 p A MARCHANT ET AL 3,467,287

ROTATABLE CLOSURE ASSEMBLY WITH RIM Filed May 2-3, 1967 INVENTORS,

PAUL A MARCHANT I KENNETH R MCHARDY W/Kfl United States Patent ROTATABLE CLOSURE ASSEMBLY WITH RIM Paul A. Marchant, Kansas City, and Kenneth Ray Mc- Hardy, Independence, M0., assignors to Rexall Drug and Chemical Company, Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of Delaware Filed May 23, 1967, Ser. No. 640,704 Int. Cl. B65d 47/00 US. Cl. 222-480 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A container closure assembly wherein the closure is rotatably mounted on the dispensing neck of the container and may be rotated to two different dispensing positions and a third closed position. The dispensing opening in the container neck has a continuous peripheral rib around its periphery to provide an effective seal between the closure and the container neck. Locking lugs are provided on the container neck to lock the rotatable closure in either of the dispensing positions or in the closed position.

The present invention is directed to a dispensing container and closure assembly fabricated from plastic.

The present invention is an improvement on the structure shown in US. Patent 3,255,937, which is incorporated herein by reference. The method of fabricating the container and closure of the present invention is fully described in this issued patent and therefore will not be described herein.

This invention is directed to a two-piece container and closure assembly wherein the container body is formed in a desired shape with an integral neck structure having a dispensing opening therein, and is adapted to receive a single-piece closure which is rotatably mounted on the container for movement to either of two dispensing positions or to a closed position. The dispensing opening is also utilized for filling the container body with a commodity. The present invention is particularly designed for housing and dispensing a powdered commodity such as body powder. The major problem in designing containers for powdered commodities is that the container must breathe during transit to avoid unsightly distortion of the container during atmospheric pressure changes, but the breathing must be limited since the powdered material will become entrained in the air movement and thus exit from the container and become deposited in an unsightly manner on the outside of the container (this is known as dusting). The present invention is designed to permit breathing while minimizing dusting."

Specifically, the filling and dispensing Opening in the container neck is provided with a continuous rib around the periphery of the opening to provide an effective seal between the container neck and the closure. A continuous slot in the container neck is provided in which a lug integral with the closure is moved in an arcuate path to selectively permit rotation of the closure to either of two desired dispensing positions or to a closed position. The rib insures an effective seal between the container neck and closure even after the closure has been rotated hundreds of times. The locking lug arrangement insures that the closure will remain in the closed position during transit and periods of nonuse.

The drawings illustrate the present preferred embodiment of the invention in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective of the container and closure assembly in disassembled condition;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the container with the closure removed;

Patented Sept. 16, 1969 FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the' closure;

FIG. 4 is a cross-section taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 but showing the closure assembled to the container neck;

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of the closure assembled to the container neck;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged portion of FIG. 4 as designated 7 in FIG. 4; and

FIG. 8 is a cross-section taken on line 88 of FIG. 2.

Briefly, the present invention is directed to a plastic container and closure assembly formed from thermoplastic materials such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, etc., and adapted for dispensing a commodity from the container when the closure is in either of two dispensing positions. The plastic materials have the degree of resilience or rigidity as required and known in the art. The closure must be suificiently resilient to permit assembly onto the container neck but sulficiently rigid to insure that the closure is tightly held on the neck while permitting rotation of the closure. The container includes a chamber formed by bottom and side walls of any desired configuration; a neck structure integral with the upper end of the side wall, a peripheral flange on the neck structure and extending inwardly toward the chamber and toward the longitudinal axis of the container. The inner edges of the flange define a dispensing and filling opening for the chamber. The inner edges of the peripheral flange have a variety of configurations that must provide a flange having at least one open area which extends radially inwardly a greater distance than other areas of the flange. Thus, the flange defines an open area which extends radially at varying distances from the axis of rotation of the closure.

A closure is provided for the top of the container, which has at least two spaced dispensing areaseach having different dispensing openings. The closure is rotatably mounted on the container and is movable to one of three positions: the first dispensing position which permits dispensing the commodity from the container through the open ings in this dispensing area; the second dispensing position which permits dispensing the commodity from the container through the dispensing openings in this area; and the third position which closes and seals the container and does not permit dispensing of the commodity from the container. When the closure is in the third or nondispensing position, the first and second areas, having the dispensing openings, are positioned over a portion of the peripheral flange. When either of the dispensing areas are in dispensing position and a commodity may be dispensed from the container, the particularly dispensing area is aligned with the opening in the container neck and the other areas are positioned over a portion of the neck flange.

Locking lugs are provided on the container neck which lock the rotatable closure in either of the dispensing positions or in the closed position.

Referring specifically to the drawings and to the preferred embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 through 8, the container body has a hollow chamber enclosed by side walls 20 and a bottom wall (not shown). The upper end of the side wall has a neck portion 21. The body side and bottom walls can be of any desired configuration but are illustratively shown as a rectangular container.

The neck portion 21 has a continuous peripheral groove 22 located below the upper end of the neck. An inwardly directed flange 23 is integral with the upper edge of the neck and extends inwardly and radially toward the longitudinal axis of the container. The flange 23 is sloped slightly upwardly in the manner shown in FIG. 4. The flange 23 extends inwardly varying distances, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 to form a key hole shaped opening 24 (in the preferred embodiment as shown). An upstanding rib 25 surrounds the keyhole shaped opening 24 and has a substantially flat planar top (see FIG. 7).

A closure 26 has a planar top wall 27 with a depending peripheral skirt 28 having an inwardly projecting rib 29 at the lower end of the skirt. The rib snaps into the groove 22 when the closure 26 is properly mounted on the container. The rib 29 slides in groove 22 to permit rotation of the closure 26 relative to neck portion 21.

The closure 26 has two dispensing areas, spaced from each other (see FIG. 6). The first area has a dispensing opening 30 located therein and the second dispensing area has a plurality of openings 31 located therein. The dispensing areas are separated from each other by an impermeable area of the closure wall 27 sufficiently large to cover the keyhole shaped opening 24 in the container neck.

The underside of wall 27 has an integral lug 32 located at the juncture of wall 27 and skirt 28.

A groove 33 is provided arcuately along the juncture of the vertical side wall of the neck and flange 23. The groove 33 has a bottom wall 34, a vertical side wall 35 and end walls 36 and 37. The groove is sufficiently large to freely receive the lug 32. The groove is about 120 in length. A pair of round protuberances 38 are provided at the midpoint of the groove and extend out of wall 35. A single protuberance 39 is located in the righthand end of the groove and is spaced a suflicient distance from the end wall 37 to admit the lug 32 between the protuberance and wall 37. Another protuberance 40 is located at the lefthand end of the groove and is spaced a suflicient disstance from the end wall 36 to admit the lug 32 between the protuberance and the end wall 36.

The protuberances 38, 39 and 40 are sufliciently small to permit the lug 32 to slide over them while flexing them slightly inwardly of the container but are sufficient in size to lock the lug in a desired position to be described hereinafter so that the user of the container must exert a reasonable force in rotating the closure 26 to free the lug 32 from the restriction of the protuberances.

When a user wishes to dispense the material from the container through the dispensing area having the single opening 30, the closure is rotated clockwise as viewed in FIG. 6 until the lug 32 is located between end wall 37 and protuberance 39. The lug is locked in this position thereby positioning the opening 30 over the opening 24 in the neck of the container. The commodity then can be dispensed by inversion of the container.

When the user desires to dispense the commodity from the container through the openings 31, the closure is rotated counter clockwise as viewed in FIG. 6 until the lug 32 is positioned between the protuberance 40 and the end wall 36, where it is locked in position by the protuberance 40, and the openings 31 are positioned over the opening 24 in the neck of the container whereby the commodity can be dispensed from the container by inversion of the container.

When it is desired to close the container to a nondispensing position, the closure is rotated in the desired direction until the lug 32 is positioned between the central protuberances 38 where it is locked by the protuberances and the unperforated portion of the Wall 27 on the closure 26 is located as shown in FIG. 6 whereby the commodity cannot be dispensed from the container by inversion of the container.

When the closure 26 is snapped onto the container neck 21 (see FIGS. 4 and the flange 23 is slightly flexed downwardly so that the upstanding rib 25 snugly engages the underside of closure wall 27. The upstanding rib 25 is very important to insure a tight seal between the flange and the closure. It may be appreciated that the rib 25 rises to different heights due to the fact that is is connected to the flange 23 in varying locations from the central axis of the container (see FIG. 1). Ideally, the height of the rib 25 is adjusted around the entire opening 24 so that a uniform tight sliding fit is achieved between the rib and the closure. It should also be noted that the underside of wall 27 is slightly bowed outwardly to accommodate the curvature of flange 23 and thus to have uniform contact between the upstanding rib 25 and underside of wall 27.

We claim:

1. A closure for rotational mounting on a container having a continuous central top opening defined by an inner edge of an inwardly directed flange, said edge and opening having an irregular contour and a portion of said opening being offset radially from the axis of rotation of said closure, a continuous rim on said flange extending upwardly from the flange immediately adjacent said opening and following the contour of the opening, said rim having a substantially flat upper surface; a closure having a top wall and a depending peripheral skirt, the underside of said skirt being substantially planar, connecting means on said skirt and said container for rotatably uniting the closure to the container, the underside of said wall being in engagement with that flat upper surface of said rim; a circumferential recessed portion in said flange, said portion being arcuate coaxially with said axis of rotation of the closure; a lug integral with the underside of said closure wall, said lug being movable in said recessed portion as the closure is rotated relative to the container, stops at each end of the recessed portion to limit the movement of said lug therein, protuberances on a wall of the recessed portion and extending slightly into the path of movement of said lug in said recessed portion, one of said protuberances being located at each end of the recessed portion and spaced from the stop at such and a sufficient distance to permit the lug to be positioned between the stop and the adjacent protuberance; an additional pair of protuberances located in said recess about midway between said stops, said pair being spaced from each other a suflicient distance to permit the lug to be positioned between the pair; said lug and said protuberances being constructed and arranged so that the lug can override the protuberances upon sufiicient rotational force being applied to the closure; said closure wall having at least two openings therein, said openings being spaced from each other with a signficant part of said wall separating the openings; and said closure being positionable with the lug between said pair of protuberances and the signficant part of said wall being positioned over and closing the offset portion of the container opening and with said lug being positionable between either stop and its adjacent protuberance so that one of said wall openings overlies the offset opening in the container whereby a commodity may be dispensed from the container.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,206,209 7/ 1940 Thorn 222548 3,198,406 8/1965 Kopelman 222548 3,209,964 10/1965 Knight 222--548 3,255,937 6/1966 Jarrett 222--548 3,260,426 7/ 1966 Ayotte 222548 3,357,605 12/1967 Chadfield 222548 3,342,385 9/1967 Knight 222548 WALTER SOBIN, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

